Imidazolinylpyridine and quinoline compounds, their use as herbicidal agents and methods for the preparation thereof are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,638,068; 4,758,667 and 4,798,619. Quinoline carboxylates and dicarboxylates useful as intermediates in the preparation of herbicidal imidazolinyl quinoline compounds are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,162.
It is an object of the present invention to provide 5-heterocyclic-pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylate esters useful as intermediates in the preparation of 5-heterocyclic-2-(2-imidazolin-2-yl)pyridine herbicidal agents and processes for the preparation thereof.